Casual Combo Deck – Semblance Anvil Tezzeret

Generally when building a new deck it’s due to a few possible reasons. It could be for a particular strategy type like making the opponent discard or having cheap efficient spells. Sometimes it could be to combat strategies in the current meta. Other times it is because there’s a card that looks like fun to build around. This article is about one of the “other” times.

This ain’t no Wile E. Coyote anvil

Behold Semblance Anvil! It can make any type of spell so much cheaper! Whether it be big creatures or big spells, it will get you there faster than you should be. So which direction was I to go with this cheapening of spells? What kind of strategy could abuse this card? Well…artifacts generally cost colorless mana….and this makes spells cost less colorless mana. So that seems like the direction I should travel.

After sorting through some cards and finding as many 2 drops as I could, I found a good chunk of cantrip artifacts that basically just sat there not being very useful. So I can put a card from my hand into play and draw a different card. How can I benefit from this? The first throught was affinity, but I didn’t have very many affinity cards so that was kind of out of the question. After a little more browsing through my artifacts and artifact related cards I came to the motherload. C-c-c-c-combo Breaker! Tezzeret the Seeker + Throne of Geth + a bunch of free cantrip artifacts = Swing for a billion GG eat it. The combo was made.

So now that I have a use for all of the generally useless artifacts, how else can I survive the game if I can’t align all of the combo pieces? Well, I now had the deck solidified in blue with Tezzeret the Seeker so I could easily add in a little control and card manipulation. I hear Counterspell is decent. Toss in a playset of those bad boys. What’s a good way to draw cards? I guess if I have to use Brainstorm I will but…you know…It’s no Ancestral Recall. :/ What if I draw too many lands off of my cantrip artifacts? I hear Trade Routes can help deal with that.

The Wuncler of Etherium

Control and card draw have been solidified, but the deck is still light on the defensive side. At this point the deck straight up dies to creature decks. Maybe I should throw in some creatures of my own. Enter total Beast Mode! Master of Etherium. This guy gets very big very fast. For 1 blue mana you get what usually ends up being an 8/8 that pumps other artifact creatures of yours. Seems fair. But 4 creatures won’t hold down the fort alone. That’s where Esperzoa comes in. 1 mana for a 4/3 Flying, one sided Howling Mine. I’ll take it! These creatures are good, but there needs to be some space filled in case the Semblance Anvil doesn’t come around. Well I have a Frogmite and some Ornithopters…I’ll throw those fuckers in there! Add in some artifact lands to make Esperzoa a little easier to keep around and we’re in business.

I almost forgot the hall of famer. If you can stick Semblance Anvil and this guy remains unanswered you’re probably going to win. Sup Vedalken Archmage? This guy makes the deck insane. He was the reason that Trade Routes was added to the deck. Now every cantrip artifact nets an actual card advantage and every other artifact replaces itself. That’s a crap ton of cards. If he’s out with an Esperzoa you have a one sided Font of Mythos just chillin’. Too good.

I got Elixirs for days son.

To round out the strategies in the deck I filled in some potholes. Though the Tezzeret is mainly in the deck as a finisher with his ultimate, he could also strengthen the game with his other abilities. His first can untap the artifact lands in the deck which is very good. His second ability is the clencher though. He can get any artifact in the deck. Mega tutor! Generally I like to get Elixir of Immortality, crack it and then get Elixir of Immortality then crack it, then get Elixir of Immortality…. There’s also a lone Æther Spellbomb to deal with pesky creatures.

Basically, when all is said and done this deck is all about fun. It’s not very competitive, it’s weak against strong aggressive strategies most of the time but every few games you get that ridunk turn 3 Master of Etherium that’s 6/6 alongside an Esperzoa that’s bashing for 5 in the air or that turn 5 Tezzeret the Seeker making your cantrips swing for 20+. With some tweaking I’m sure a competitive deck could be made out of it but I’m cool with having fun playing Magic. No matter what you decide to do, remember to tell your opponent to eat it when you’re swinging for a billion. Sneak in an Ashnod’s Coupon and have that bitch go get you a drank while you’re at it. _